“Squeeze Box” - The Who

I am definitely a fan of the oldies but have lost my attitude towards modern day music. There are so many great bands out there and the sad truth is most of my favorites are going to stop touring soon and I love going to concerts so that won’t do. My Morning Jacket is definitely one of my favorite bands and they’re so talented. I definitely gravitate towards bands that have an older sounding vibe like The Allah-Las, The Sheepdogs, The Donkeys, etc. but I love mellow music as well. Lord Huron, Iron and Wine, Cotton Jones, Alabama Shakes, Portugal. The Man, The Shins, Port O. Brein, Modest Mouse would be some of my favorite bands around right now but my absolute favorites will probably always be Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, Quicksilver Messanger Service, Steely Dan and Pink Floyd. 

Pandora has honestly led me to some of my favorite bands. Whenever I’m feeling out of the loop with new tunes I’ll put on a new station and usually come out with a few artists I am looking up and interested in seeing. They’re usually small bands I have never heard of and am stoked to see them on lineups at festivals, like Lord Huron and Tame Impala at Coachella. I’m going up to Napa for BottleRock next week and am so excited about Friday’s lineup with The Shins, The Black Keys, Allah-Las, Alabama Shakes and a few more that I’ve seen and can’t wait to see again. Then I’ll get my oldies fix at Bonnaroo with Tom Petty and Paul McCartney. 

As for my favorite songs, this is actually something I’ve narrowed down a little. But now that I am listing some it seems to be never ending. You can check out my grooveshark (redenfrost) to see some of my mostly played tracks and last.fm also.

~Box of Rain - Grateful Dead (this song carries a lot of weight in my life and is honestly one of the most beautiful songs…ever.)

~Tangerine - Led Zeppelin

~Plundered My Soul - The Rolling Stones

~Don’t Cry My Lady Love - Quicksilver Messenger Service

~Hyacinth House - The Doors

~Master Plan - My Morning Jacket

~Black Cat - The Donkeys

~You Carried Us - Portugal. The Man

~Slave - Elton John

~Gotta Cheer Up - Cotton Jones

-REF

Life is good

“Walk Through a Cloud” - The Donkeys

“Gotta Cheer Up” Cotton Jones

Start your week off right! HaPPY MOndAYY

Stoked for Led Zeppelin-esque band The Tilt tonight in Carlsbad at the rad Museum for Making Music. Check em out if you’re in the area. Tickets are $10 online. 

Coachella Countdown…7 bands to check out before heading to the festival…

With Coachella coming up the next two weekends, festival fashion guides are taking over, but let’s not forget about the most important part…the music!! There’s nothing worse than getting into a band and realizing you missed seeing them when you were at Coachella after the fact. Of course, the headliners are great (including The Stone Roses, Modest Mouse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs)  but some of the best artists are hidden amongst that small font. Be sure to add these guys to your “coachooser” if you haven’t already and have a great time! The annual festival that has recently taken on a double weekend line-up to accommodate its ever growing fanbase takes place in sunny Indio, CA on April 12-14 and the 19-21. The music, the food, the people, and the dancing will fill these weekends with unforgettable memories for those attending, and for those of you who can’t make it out this year, stay tuned for reviews and clips!

Friday:

For Friday be sure to check out Alt-J. This indie-rock band from England is made up of four friends who met while studying at Leeds University. Gwil Sainsbury plays guitar and bass, Joe Newman fronts the unique vocals as well as playing guitar,and keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton rounds out the instrumentals with drummer Thom Green. They have an electric and rhythmically alluring sound that gets you in a bit of a trance when listening. Can’t wait to see how this sound comes out live!

Lord Huron is one of the bands I am most excited about seeing. Mellow, majestic and reassuring  are three words that come to mind when describing them.  The Los Angeles band released their debut album Lonesome Dreams this past year following two EPs Mighty and Into the Sun. I would liken the band to the harmonizing talent of Fleet Foxes and the energy of Vampire Weekend (who will be playing on Sunday). Listening to “The Man Who Lives Forever” feels like you’re standing in a forest or the jungle and surrounded by animals waking and making their calls but it’s instrumentals building and getting stronger and more alive as the song goes on. They incorporate a lot of sounds from nature like running water trickling into the sounds of a rain stick. You’re equally relaxed and energized as you listen and their hopeful lyrics are captivating and always leave me in a great mood.

More mellow vibes for Friday come from Baltimore, Maryland duo Beach House. Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand formed the group in 2004 and have released four albums since then. Their single Zebra released in 2010, highlights the majestic vocals associated with this “dream pop” genre. The two pride themselves on being able to try new sounds and push creative limits because it is just the two of them working together. If you’re looking to cool down and catch a relaxing pop set in between shows, Beach House is the place to go.

Saturday:

Don’t let Allen Stone’s long blonde locks fool you, this 26 year old Washington native sounds more like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder than his hippie persona would lead you to believe. The singer-songwriter makes a point of addressing social issues, relationships and the ever changing world in his soulful songs. He takes R&B to a new level and brings his own unique energy to the genre. His first album, Last To Speak, was released in 2010 and in these past few years, all of his work traveling cross country in his van playing whenever and wherever he could, has really paid off. Stone is now playing in Japan before his Coachella showcase.

Portugal. The Man has got to be one of my favorite current day bands. Their electric soul and psychedelic flare gets crowds dancing the moment they take the stage. Their  passion to give a really great  performance makes me so excited that they’re gonna be at Coachella again. The Portland based band came together in 2004 and while the band lineup has changed some over the years, their rad music never falters. Their impressive discography has them putting out eight albums in the last seven years, including their 2013 release Evil Friends.

Sunday:

I just recently heard the Tame Impala song “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” and had to shazam it, I thought I was listening to some John Lennon pop mashup and was excited to stumble onto this psychedelic rock group from Perth, Australia. The band prides themselves on their “dream-like melodies” and after listening through more of their music and their live album “Live at the Corner”,  I can’t wait to see the show they put on. The group has done collaboration covers with artists such as the Flaming Lips and Fleetwood Mac and definitely display a talent for mixing modern instrumentals with a throwback sound.

Brother, Sister duo Wild Belle take the stage Sunday and I can’t wait to witness the loving and creative dynamic that exists between  Elliot and Natalie Bergman. The two grew up in Chicago and began performing together in Elliot’s Afrobeat band, Nomo, that he formed in college. Wild Belle just recently released their first studio album Isles, this past March. The two are signed with Columbia records who definitely took note of the sibling’s musical talent and unique vibe for instrumentals. They blend the cosmic elements of reggae with jazz, pop and psychedelic sounds which makes for such a powerful sound that definitely seems like more than two people.  

-REF

When I’m awake enough
I’m gonna shake it off …

WILCO “Shake it Off”

Happy Birthday Mr. Gilmour

What a babe

Port O’Brien “Olso Campfire”

Lately, when I’m not literally playing this song on repeat, I find its lyrics going off in my head over and over again. It is so easy to get caught up in day to day stressers and allow them to consume your happiness. We must remember that nothing is that big of a deal. Whatever your’e dealing with will work itself out. This too shall pass.

Think about the worries you carried with you in the past, if you can still remember them it is probably because you remember how silly they were and how worked up over them you were.

I find that stopping to give yourself a reality check every once in a while is one of the best things you can offer your constantly chaotic and over scheduled life. And if that doesn’t work, finding a song that does it for you is just as effective.

Don’t dwell on the past, and don’t worry too much about the future, the only thing you can determine is your mindset in the present. Aside from allowing things to escalate out of proportion, “the reason people find it so hard to be happy is they see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future far less resolved than it will be.” (Marcel Pagnol)

So take a deep breath, give this song a listen, or two and congratulate yourself on making it past Wednesday. The weeks half way over!

-REF

Everyone I know has more patience than I do
You’re only kept around
Hung by a thread

Only one more drive
I couldn’t stay inside
Rattled off some shit I never said

And I don’t care what they say
This too shall pass on my way
Never trusted them anyway

I quickly am forgetting
And turn this into you
Everything we have chalk it up to luck

Digging through your past
And dreaming through your sun
Will get your no where fast and leave your fucked

And I don’t care what they say
This too shall pass on my way
Never trusted them anyway

And I don’t care what they say
This too shall pass on my way
Never trusted them anyway

Tomorrow’s Tulips “Eternally Teenage”

Allah-Las “Sandy”

Time flies when you’re having fun…but where does it go? If you’re too close to the sun, now you just don’t know…

check em out tonight at The Casbah 

Definitely! I’m living in San Diego right now and it is awesome. There are always a lot of great shows coming through but they are mostly 21+. It is also just a couple of hours from LA which has some epic venues and concerts all the time. But as far as a friendly/mellow place, SD is pretty perfect. You get the beach scene and also have downtown but it is much more relaxed than LA. 

Don’t miss the Allah-Las, Tomorrow’s Tulips, New Mexico and Barbarian all at The Casbah this Saturday 2/23/13.

This Saturday night at The Casbah some of the surf scene’s raddest bands are hitting the circuit. The Allah-Las, Tomorrow’s Tulips, New Mexico and Barbarian make up the set list for Saturday’s tunes and this isn’t a show you will want to miss. Surf-punk and psychedelic sounds permeate the room wherever these bands play. You can feel the music, like you’re riding a wave.

The Allah-Las have a complete throwback sound.  Their music, recording aesthetic and music videos are all reminiscent of the beatnik era. From a very 60s fitted suits and rock and roll vibe in their song “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)” to mellow surf scenes present throughout their tracks, the Allah-Las are a beacon of musical hope and groovy tunes in a time of over produced and synthesized music. The Los Angeles band came together in 2008 after three of its four members met working at the legendary Amoeba records. The crew knew what it took to achieve a real sounds and didn’t cut any corners on the production of their record released on vinyl. After all, what they say is true…everything does sound better on vinyl. The band’s EP released in April of last year, Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind) kills it with four addicting tracks you can listen to over and over again. (“Catamaran”, “Long Journey”, “Sacred Sands” and “Tell Me (What’s On Your Mind)”) And their self-titled album Allah-Lahs released this past September adds 8 new songs to become addicted to. You can hear a likeness to The Byrds coming through on the instrumentals on some tracks such as “Vis-A-Vis” off their debut. And while I pick up on a bit of The Zombies with their style, but this band is 100% them, doing things the right way and working hard to achieve their sound of sorrowful, hypnotic and body swaying music.

The surfer element is heavy in Tomorrow’s Tulips with professional surfers Alex Knost (vocals and guitar) and Ford Archbold (bassist) fronting the band. Heads of long blonde locks shake like crazy when the band isn’t sporting some of their more festive headgear of sunshine and smile cut outs, and watching them play makes you feel like you’ve left land for a little while. They, too, have a sound from the past, a little Velvet Underground meets a surf-heavy garage punk. Their female vocalist Christina Kee definitely carries that Nico-esque vibe and it is rad to see a girl hold her own in a band of guys, dominating on the drums as well. Their two albums, Tired released in 2010 and Eternally Teenage capture the bands live sound, but seeing them play is half the fun of experiencing the band.

San Diego bands New Mexico and Barbarian keep with the surf-vibes and raw, garage-band sounds of the night while adding a bit more of a punk element. Barbarian recently released their debut 7” vinyl, Daze of Youth, with Manimal Vinyl. They describe their sound as “coldwave” which mixes varying levels of punk and pop with garage rock overtones. Both sides of this album showcase a different sound to the band. The raw instrumentals are met by lead singer Andrew Mills’ alarming vocals. New Mexico is described in a similar vein as Barbarian with this garage band punk dominating their sound.

All four bands compliment each other perfectly and build off of each other’s sounds. Saturday’s crowd in guaranteed to have a great time, submersed in the culture and sounds of some of the sweetest surf and garage bands SoCal has to offer.

-REF

For more information on the band’s and getting tickets check out these links.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/events/2013/feb/23/55600/
http://www.casbahmusic.com/event/4023/

picture from rvca.com
Allah-Las, Innovative Leisure and Press record Co.
Tomorrow’s Tulips, Burger and Galaxia Records
New Mexico, unsigned
Barbarian, The Record Stache